


Tomorrow is Mine

by ASFAR



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Avengers bashing, BAMF Pepper Potts, BAMF Tony Stark, Civil War Team Iron Man, Dark Tony Stark, Destroying SHIELD, Destroying WSC, Destroying the Avengers, Dimension Travel, Everything is AU, F/M, Loki wasn't the bad guy in The Avengers, Magic, Magical Artifacts, Manipulative Tony Stark, Mars, Mind Control, News Media, Not Clint Friendly, Not Natasha Friendly, Not Steve Friendly, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Powerful Tony Stark, Protective Tony Stark, Revenge, SHIELD bashing, Space Battles, Space Stations, The Nine Realms, Time Travel, WSC Bashing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-19
Updated: 2018-02-14
Packaged: 2018-12-04 00:11:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 11,072
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11543349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ASFAR/pseuds/ASFAR
Summary: Tony Stark died at the hands of the one that called himself friend.Death isn't the end of everything. It could be the beginning of ascending to a Higher status. If you have the intelligence and determination for it.For Higher Beings turning back time it's very easy.





	1. Rearanging Events

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own any characters.  
> There may be some dialogue from the movies
> 
> Comments are always appreciated.

Reaper opened his eyes to the familiar sight of the Malibu mansion. He knew that right now Tony Stark was being tortured in Afghanistan by terrorists. He was back, before the manipulators started to spin their webs of lies and deceit.

Teleporting to the cave where Stark was being tortured, the Master of Darkness looked at his past self, brunette with brown eyes and hair while Reaper with his long black hair and black/grey eyes and pale as the moon. Such opposites, they were but at the same time they were the same being.

Stopping time, Slayer fused with Stark, taking his place. Looking at Yinsen, Reaper waved his hand, erasing his memory and transporting him to a hospital in France, giving him a chance of a new life. Then he fabricated memories in his captors minds of a failed experiment that explained Stark’s new looks. The Master of Darkness then escaped the same way he had a long time ago, with his prototype of a suit. The Destroyer of Worlds had to restrain himself from torturing Rhodes when he first saw him.

 _Traitor, thief, liar._ Were some of the worlds that he wanted to say.

When he was finally back at the good old U. S. of A, everybody was surprised by his new looks. But they didn’t mention it after he explained the failed experiment. When he arrived at the Malibu Mansion, he heard:

“Welcome back Sir.”

Slayer took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

JARVIS, he missed him, he had grieved him together with his other bots.

“It’s good to be back old friend. There is a couple of things you should know.”

The Master of Darkness spent the rest of the night and the next day telling JARVIS everything. The mess with Vanko, the New York invasion, the Mandarin, the fall of SHIELD, Ultron, the Civil War and his death at the hands of Captain America. He explained Hell, how he ascended to his position and told JARVIS about the betrayal of SHIELD, the Avengers and Rhodes. He told him, shaking with rage, about the vile things that the supposed ‘good guys’ did to Pepper before killing her, about Happy dying while trying to defend her, the killing of his bots and the enslavement of FRIDAY and Vision. Back then, in his rage, the Slayer, very painfully, exterminated mankind and teared apart the planet. In the end, the Master of Darkness decided to turn back time and be reunited with his love, his true friend and his creations. JARVIS listened to all only interrupting to enquire for a few concepts or events.

The Reaper spent the next day upgrading JARVIS and the bots, technologically and magically while starting to create FRIDAY and Vision.

“Sir, Miss Potts is requesting access to the mansion” interrupted JARVIS

“Let her in, J”

The Destroyer of Worlds sucked a breath when he saw her. She was always beautiful, even when SHIELD and the Avengers tortured her, even when she died. But here, now, before SHIELD had manipulated and brainwashed her to suit their plans, she was radiant in an otherworldly way. She was, as cheesy as it is, the light of his being, the reason that made him search and gain his powers and what made him thrive in Hell. He would protect her, torture for her, kill for her and do unspeakable things for her. He was so mesmerized by her that he didn’t notice she was speaking to him.

“…Tony? Are you listening to me?” asked Pepper

“Pepper...” he said

He didn’t know what to say, so he moved forward and wrapped his hands around her and holding her tightly.

“I can’t imagine what you’ve been through this pasts months. But I’m here. Ok, Tony?”

“You have no idea how much those words mean to me.” whispered the Destroyer of Worlds.

Pepper looked at him and said:

“Mr. Stane told me to say for you to take it easy, to talk to someone. I agreed with him, Tony. This was a traumatic experience, don’t ignore it, please.”

The Slayer sighed, he knew that he would have to do this, not talking to a medical professional after Afghanistan had been one of the arguments that Stane used to throw him out; and later by SHIELD to convince the agents that he saved after the organization’s fall to start stealing secrets of SI for the new SHIELD.

 “I won’t. I promise that I’ll talk to someone.”

Afterwards he convinced her to stay and have dinner with him. They made small talk, she told him all the juicy news that he missed and the wild speculations that they have for his survival. It was nice and peaceful. In the end, he escorted her to her car while sneakily casting protection spells on her then watch her go home.

“JARVIS hack Stane’s medical file, see if he has some condition like heart defect of something.”

After one minute JARVIS answered:

“Mr. Stane’s file shows that he suffers from hypertension that makes him susceptible to strokes and heart failure.”

Reaper smirked, after ordering JARVIS to make Stane’s condition worse than it is on the file, he located the doctor altered a few memories and went to Stane’ home.

_They didn’t call him The Reaper for nothing._

 

* * *

 

 

**Six Months Later**

 

 

“… The truth is…” Tony Stark said “I am Iron Man”

All the journalists erupted with questions at the same time. Tony gave them one last smile then exited the stage.

A lot of things went the same way and a lot of things went differently. One major change was Stane’s tragic dead a few days after his return, such a pity that the man worried for his good friend forgot to take his medicine resulting in a fatal heart attack; another was his congressional hearing, he didn’t behave like a jackass (much), he behave like an adult and let his army of lawyers do the talking. He still destroyed the Ten Rings, killed Vanko (preemptive strike and all that) and had an eye on AIM and SHIELD/HYDRA.

Iron Man was a hero. He destroyed terrorists groups, saved many civilians and soldiers. Just last week, he diverted a terrorist attack at the headquarters of the U.N. saving two hundred lives. It was also common knowledge (he deliberately let it leak) that Tony Stark was seeing a therapist. Many people speculate that this whole ordeal made him grow up and starting to behave like an adult, as much it was possible because this was Tony Stark, after all. He went to board meetings, closed the weapons manufactory and concentrated on new technology: two weeks ago a new line of medical prosthetics was introduced to people with walking disabilities, a new line of protective police equipment was promised to the police and to motivate young genius minds a program was created were they would work not only with real scientists but also with Tony Stark himself.

This way, Reaper swiftly cut any trains of thought that SHIELD could explore to cast doubts on his person. They couldn’t attack Iron Man or Tony Stark. They were, also, too busy trying to figure it out where their Stark Weapons had went (it turns out that terrorists groups weren’t the only clients that Stane had).

The only worry that he had was Pepper. She was behaving strangely, after looking in her mind, he saw that her memories from the past were returning through her dreams. It had been a possibility, but he hoped that it wouldn’t happen. When he ascended to a higher being he went to the afterlife to take Pepper’s soul. For eons, he had, literally, her soul in his heart, protected against everything and everyone. The afterlife wasn’t a guarantee for rest or peace, several higher beings frequently tormented souls for amusement and it didn’t matter if you were a good person or not. The truth was Slayer rather thought the whole thing was very Lovecraftian. When he turned back time, her soul started to resonate with her past soul; and now her memories were, slowly, bleeding through. He couldn’t stop it without the risk of her soul shattering, which made it a very big problem. But he would find a way to deal with it.

In a few years, Loki would come and bring the Chituari, the Avengers would be created to fight the invasion. He couldn’t wait to start toying with the so-called heroes, Fury, Hill, Coulson and the WSC. He would enjoy destroying Rogers’s reputation, only after he sank SHIELD of course (the dumb blond could be useful after all). This time, there wouldn’t be anyone for the poor burned spies, to save them from their HYDRA coworkers or the rest of the world.  Poor things.

He was Tony Stark and Iron Man, also, The Master of Darkness, The Reaper, The Slayer, The Destroyer of Worlds.

He would torture and destroy anything that threatened him or what was his.

Entering his Malibu Mansion he thought

_Now I play the waiting game._


	2. Reunions and Plans

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Reunions never go how we planned them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I want to say thanks to all the kudos and the comments. After doing some thinking I decided to make the story. I hope you enjoy it.

This was it.

It had happened and he had done it.

There is no turning back.

He could only hope for the better and move forward.

Tony watched Pepper sleeping in her bed. For the past six hours, he had been watching her sleep. He had decided to help Pepper remember her old life, then offer her the chance of removing those memories.

Slowly, Pepper opened her eyes, Slayer saw confusion and fear within them.

“Relax Pepper. Take a deep breath.” He said.

“Tony... what? Oh my God…” Pepper murmured.

Reaper held her in his arms, patting her back and whispering reassurances in her ear. After a while, when he saw that she was better, he let Pepper go and looked at her eyes.

“What do you remember?" He asked softly.

“I… It’s confusing. It’s like an alternative reality. You were… dead. Captain America killed you?! And there was this organization called…”

“SHIELD, yes.” He completed for her. “Pepper, it’s all true, all that happened.”

“What? How?”

“When I died, I was very angry and wanted revenge. After spending some time in Hell, I gained enough power to be able to observe what was happening on Earth.” He didn’t know how to say this but, he wouldn’t stop now. Pepper deserved the truth. “When I saw the things they planed to do to you and the manipulations they did, I wanted revenge, so…”

“Rogers… He killed you!...”

“SSShhh. It’s alright. I already had my revenge and will have it again.”

“They killed me.” She said hollowly. “The people I considered close friends.”

“Yes.”  He confirmed grabbing her hands.

They stayed silent after that. Pepper was slowly reliving her memories again, by the end of it she was silently crying.

“I want them to pay for what they did to us.”

“They will, we will destroyed them.” He promised her.

“I remember…” She said suddenly “After I died, sometime later, something came for me. It grabbed me and it put me… inside of itself, I think? Somehow I knew that I was protected and loved. It was you, wasn’t it?”

“You remember that far?” He asked with a trembling voice

 _Did Pepper witnessed all of it? Did she remembered all the monstrous things I did?_ He thought fearfully.

“Yes.” Pepper whispered.

The heart of the Destroyer of Worlds broke hearing that. She would leave him now. Pepper, as if hearing his thoughts, brought a hand to brush against his cheek and said:

“I won’t. But we have to talk things out between us.”

Slayer let loose a breath he didn’t know he was holding.

“It wasn’t our fault the first time. The WSC and SHIELD deliberately manipulated us to destroy our relationship.”

“Why? Why would they do this? Why the plots? The manipulations? Why destroy our relationship? What do they gain?” At the end Pepper was yelling.

The Master of Darkness grabbed Pepper and put her in his lap in an effort to calm her down.

“Arrogance and jealousy. They think they have the right to control the world, of course, they say they are protecting it. They, in some places, replaced democratic governments with dictatorships because it would be more beneficial for them, never mind the people that suffered for it, that died, that lived in fear of their lives and their love ones. They see everybody that doesn’t obey them as a threat or an asset that needs to be broken down by any means. That’s what they did to us, they saw that together we made a formidable pair, a threat, so they sent their red haired Judas to whisper honey poisoned words in our ears to make us fall in line with their plans, like puppets.”

“I can’t do it….”

“Pepper…” He interrupted her.

“NO! You don’t understand, I am afraid if I see any of them, I might just strangle them with my own bare hands.”

“You have to, my plan, now our plan, depends on it.”

Taking a deep breath, Pepper said:

“Fine, but promise me that we don’t have to hire Romanov again.”

Reaper smirked:

“JARVIS already put a warning on all of her alias and her face. She won’t be hired again”

Pepper smirked.

“What about the invasion? Vision and FRIDAY?” abruptly asked Pepper after a moment of thought.

“I plan on tricking Thor into giving me the scepter instead of SHIELD. FRIDAY is coming around, but this time I plan to activate her at the same time as Vision. You know, like twins. About the invasion, I plan to be on my best behavior so SHIELD can’t accuse me of not being a team player.”

“Can’t we prepare? Have our own private security?” asked Pepper “What about the planet as a whole? I remember that before I died there was talking of an upcoming invasion from a Titan, I think.”

“Yes, you’re right and I know who you are talking about. The security, it’s not just about numbers, it’s also the technology. The technology on Earth is too primitive and that makes her an easy target. Sure they can use nukes, but in the long run, the enemy still wins while humanity dies from radiation.” explained the Master of Darkness.

Pepper looked at him. Reaper sighed.

“Let me guess, you want me to advance technology more than I am already doing.”

Pepper sighed.

“Tony, I know that you don’t have any love for humanity, being Happy and me the exceptions. But…… This could be a way to stick it to the WSC and SHIELD, the person they consider reckless and arrogant being the one responsible for the protection of Earth, the one that took the initiative while they were all talk. It will eat them from the inside out and humiliate them on an international scale.”

Slayer thought about it for a few minutes. Sure it would be more work but the chance of destroying (more thoroughly) the WSC and SHIELD’s reputation was very tempting. In the end, he knew what his decision was.

“Fine. But where would the headquarters be? It can’t be anywhere near a SI building. There’s the problem of spies, I’m pretty sure there are some employees being spied in order to gain advantage over SI and me.”

“Can’t you put some magical barrier? You know like Harry Potter.” Asked Pepper

“I could but eventually it would interfere with the technology.”

Pepper sighed.

“We can fix the details later. So the invasion is taken care of.  Ultron won’t happen this time” She said looking at him “What about the HYDRA/SHIELD situation?”

“You know… I kind of want to create Ultron again…”

“What!?” Pepper cut him off. “Don’t you remember…”

“Peps, I know, but do you realize that Ultron wasn’t Banner or my fault? In fact it can be argued that Ultron’s actions wasn’t his own actions.”

Pepper’s eyes widened.

“The witch, when she used her magic to manipulate me, she was in close proximity of the Mind Stone, the magic, unknowingly, wraped itself around it. When we were programing Ultron, the magic… you can say, it brainwashed Ultron. You know like the Winter Soldier. She wanted to destroy the Avengers, so the magic focused on the idea of destruction from the witch and the idea of protecting Earth from Banner and I.” explained Slayer.

“Oh God!” Pepper whispered “Everyone blamed you when you were innocent. No one knew the truth.”

“Not exactly, the witch eventually realized what she had done but she decided to hide it because she believed that I deserve it, you know the same excuse of always, her parents.”

Pepper seemed so angry that she couldn’t form any words, so Reaper hugged her and whispered in her ear:

“This time she won’t have the chance. Her powers were amplified due to the Mind Stone, without it her powers are so weak that mental manipulation is impossible.”

After that she seemed to calm down.

“HYDRA?” she asked.

“When SHIELD falls, we do nothing. Let’s see how SHIELD fairs without someone protecting their agents.”

Pepper smiled then she kissed him and Reaper kissed back.

For the first time in a long time, the Destroyer of Worlds felt at peace, the constant and violent ocean of hatred and wrath was calm. He had his love back, he had his bots, he had JARVIS and he had Happy. He wasn’t alone anymore, he was surrounded by his loved ones and he would make sure to rain his vengeance again on the manipulators and betrayers.


	3. Meetings

Slayer was waiting.

Six months after his announcement as Iron Man, Reaper was done.

Since the revelation, SHIELD had been trying to gain access to his person. Romanov tried and failed, multiple times, to get a job at SI; Fury tried the same as last time, to overrode JARVIS and enter in to his house, with negative results and Coulson even tried to set several appointments.  At first it had been amusing, then it became repetitive and now it was an annoyance that he was going to deal with.

So this night, the Master of Darkness was in Central Park eating a cheeseburger waiting. It didn’t take long. Not even thirty minutes had passed when he sensed Fury’s soul three miles from him.

“Mr. Stark, you’re a man hard to find.” Greeted Fury.

“Not find” He denied “Just busy. I’m the CEO of SI, which comes with many responsibilities and expectations. You should know about that being Director of SHIELD, Mr. Fury.”

Reaper could tell that he surprised Fury due to the man’s emotions but his face didn’t show it.

“You think you’re the only superhero in the world?”

“Of course not, I’m not that arrogant.” Answered Tony

“You think this is a game?” Pressed Fury.

Reaper internally smirked, he could tell Fury was trying to appear as a man that knew more than Tony but that approach went up in flames when Slayer identified him.

“Mr. Fury, I urge you to stop trying to have a pissing contest with me, you’re the director of a big organization and with all big organizations, it demands that their bosses always stay on top of its issues. If not their agents start to slack and lie, if not worse. So stop wasting time and resources in trying and failing to spy on me and concentrate on your organization.”

The Master of Darkness could fell Fury’s anger and to add gasoline to the fire, he picked up a folder and gave it to Fury.

“What’s this?” the Director asked

“Charges of industrial espionage against one Natalia Romanova.”

Fury opened the folder and read.

“You think you can win?” Mocked Fury

“Yes, because I found the spyware and malware she tried to install.”

The Destroyer of Worlds could tell that Fury didn’t know about the spyware or the malware but he wouldn’t acknowledged it because that would be admitting that Tony was right. Reaper felt a new wave of anger this time directed at Romanov.

“Well, it was fun this talk, so let’s never do it again.”

“Stark…” Fury started

“Also, my answer to your Avenger Initiative is a no. So stop bothering me, before I press charges against you for trying to break in to my home. Don’t think that I don’t have evidence. So goodbye.”

Slayer didn’t give a chance for the Director reply, he simply walked away.

Reaper knew he had been a little antagonist and a show off, but he couldn’t stop it.

This man manipulated him. He meticulously planned the destruction of Pepper and Tony’s relationship. He sent Romanov to deliberately break Tony down to make him a controllable asset. He could have stopped Project Insight and the data dump from Romanov. He tried to hide Tony Stark’s murderer, when it didn’t work, he blamed it on Zemo; because apparently if you have specials skills (like being a super soldier), you could escape murder charges if you agreed to work for SHIELD. He tortured and tried to brainwash Pepper when it didn’t work, he killed her. He proposed the idea of the enslavement of FRIDAY and Vision.

This is the man that called himself a ‘good guy’. Reaper could handle that level of hypocrisy, if he had not discovered something a long time ago, particularly when he had been torturing Fury and running around in the man’s mind.

Nick Fury was/is Tony Stark’s Godfather.

Slayer never saw it coming. The piece of human filth that tried his best to ruin Tony’s life. The scum that protected his own godchild’s murderer. What does that say about Nick Fury?

Reaper tried to calm the ocean of wrath that was stirring inside of him.

 _Let it go, they made their own beds now they are going to lie down on them._ He thought.

Arriving at the Malibu mansion, the Master of Darkness greeted Pepper and told her of his talk with Fury. Pepper laughed when he finished telling the conversation.

“I’m sure he didn’t expected the charges against Romanov” She said smirking

“Yes, he didn’t even know about the spyware or malware.” Slayer revealed

“Ohh, Romanov is in trouble. I wish I could see Fury rip her a new one”

“You know... I think we could see it.” Said Reaper “JARVIS can you do it?”

“Of course, if you please look at the screen on your right, Sir”

On the screen appeared live feed of an office, more specifically Fury’s office. After a few minutes of waiting, Fury, Romanov and Coulson entered the office.

“Where you able to approach him, sir?” asked Coulson

“It was a trap.” Said Fury “He knew about me and SHIELD and our attempts to infiltrate his life.”

“What do you mean, sir?” asked Romanov

Earing this, Fury glared at Romanov.

“He knew about your attempts and is pressing charges of industrial espionage against you.”

Romanov scoffed.

“He doesn’t know who am I, also taking job interviews isn’t a crime”

“He knows your true name, Natalia Romanova and he found your spyware and malware which gives him proof. Furthermore, your mission was to get a job on SI and get close to Stark **not** to implant any virus on his network. Do you know the consequences of your actions?”

“Sir, with all due respect. SHIELD could easily create an excuse for this. All we have to do is expose how egotistical and unreliable he is, remind the public about his past and they will eat him alive.” said Romanov.

“That would have worked before Afghanistan” Said Coulson “When Stark returned, he changed. He now plays not only the media game, also the political game on an international level. The public calls the pre-Afghanistan Stark the teenager and the post-Afghanistan Stark the adult. The government was going to fight against the closure of the weapons manufactory but Stark out maneuvered them by proclaiming to invest in a new science division dedicated to finding treatments and cures against many serious illness like HIV and cancer; and creating prosthetics for injured veterans.”

“It’s all to feed his ego.” Said Romanov “SHIELD could…”

“It doesn’t matter the reason.” interrupted Fury “Stark now has heavy political power that could make SHIELD’s life very difficult. Agent Romanov, effective immediately, you are suspended without paid. You are to declare yourself guilty in those charges and a mention of this incident will be put on your record.”

Romanov gritted her teeth, anger could be seen in her eyes.

“Yes, sir.”

“You’re dismissed.” said Fury

After Romanov left, Fury turned to Coulson.

“What is your assessment of this situation?” asked the Director

“We need to know how much Stark knows about SHIELD.” Answered Coulson

“Yes, he was very informed about us.”

“Do you suspect a mole?” asked Coulson

“I don’t know, Coulson, that it’s what worries me. Ever since Stark returned he’s like a different man, one we can’t predict or manipulate. If we didn’t have proof that he was Stark, I wouldn’t believe it.”

“Sir, what about the Avengers Initiative?”

“Stark refused. What about Rogers’s status?”

“He has PTSD and is very overwhelmed by what he considers the future. There is some concern that he may enter in a depression. It’s advisable to give him meager tasks to pass time.” Reported Coulson

“What about some missions? We could use some of that super strength and it helps that he is still in a war mindset.”

“You mean assassination missions?” asked Coulson

“Yes, the most difficult targets that we have. Rogers could be the heavy weight while an agent accompanies him to do the kill.” Said Fury

“What if he asks about the assassination?”

“We could create a fake story that would calm his conscience.” Answered Fury

Coulson looked thoughtful.

“We should ask the psychologist. It wouldn’t be good for SHIELD if Rogers was to have a panic attack or a PTSD episode during the missions.” Advised Coulson

“Do it. Additionally try to get close to Stark’s new girlfriend, Virginia Potts.”

“Of course, sir”

“You’re dismissed.”

Coulson nodded then left.

Then the screen went black.

“Well that was informative” said Reaper “What do you think Peps?”

“Rogers is getting screwed and they know that you’re a threat.”

“We already knew about the second. What do you think about Rogers getting screwed?”

“It all makes sense now, you know during Civil War even during the fall of SHIELD. Let’s stop talking about them. Let’s talk about the headquarters that you promised to take care of.” Said Pepper

The Master of Darkness grinned. For the past six months, he had been hiding the location of the headquarters. Truly, he wanted to be a surprise for Pepper.

“It’s finished. I also created the transport needed to reach the building”

“Where is it?” asked Pepper

“On Mars”


	4. Busy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The preperations for the invasion

Listening to the answer, Pepper’s eyes widened and her mouth opened but no sound came from it.

“Mars is the second planet close to Earth. None can go to Mars, not even SHIELD. I also built two big spaceships to act as a transport between the two planets. The travel distance between the two planets on the spaceships is less than a day. What do you think?” asked the Destroyer of Worlds.

“Why on another planet?”

“Two reasons. First, to convince the people chosen to work with us. If we say we are working to protect the world from extra-terrestrial threats, we need proof and show our technology. What better way to convince them than the place where they are going to start working is on another planet?”

Pepper mused about it then asked:

“Second?”

“To hide from Heimdall’s sight.”

“Who?”

“Asgard’s watcher. He sees everything within the nine realms. The nine realms aren’t apart from the universe, they are in another plane of existence with Earth being the point of contact between the universe and the other realms, but still belongs within the other realms. Think like this: our universe is on the first floor, the nine realms are on the second floor and Earth is the stair that connects the two. Short point: Heimdall can see everything that happens on Earth”

“Why do we need to hide from Asgard?” inquired Pepper

“One word: Odin. He’s not the benevolent and just ruler that Thor boasts about. He’s no different than Hitler, actually the only difference between them is that Odin was successful. If he finds out about our project, he would wage war against Earth and put us on a leash. Don’t worry, Peps” he reassured after looking at her face “Odin doesn’t bother to keep a close eye on humanity, he thinks they are no better than goats.”

“Why Mars? Isn’t Venus closer to Earth?”

“It is, but Venus’s temperature is around 450ºC, hot enough to melt lead, also the atmosphere is really dense while Mars’s temperature is around -50ºC with a thinner atmosphere. In the end Mars has a better environment than Venus.” Explained the Master of Darkness.

“Can you show me?” asked Pepper.

Reaper grinned and grabbed her hand, then he teleported them to one of the spaceships.

“This is the Primus and the other one is the Secundus.”

“Primus and Secundus?”

“It means ‘first’ and ‘second’ in Latin.” Said Slayer.

The Master of Darkness showed her the control room, the weaponry, the quarters, the several lounge rooms, the labs and several other places on the spaceship; then he teleported Pepper to the base on Mars and did the same.

Two hours later, they were eating pancakes, when Pepper asked:

“What is the name of the base?”

“Actually I didn’t name it. We are going to refer it as a person.”

“A person?”

The Master of Darkness grinned and said:

“It’s time to introduce yourself, c’mon don’t be shy.”

“I would like to say that you didn’t programed me to be shy.” A familiar voice said from above

Pepper gasped, she knew that voice… that was…

“Ultron!!!”

She looked at Tony, he built Ultron again. Pepper still remembered the photos of the ruins of Sokovia. She remembered how devastated Tony was when Ultron killed JARVIS.

“Miss Potts, I would like to remind you that the previous me was a brainwashed program due to circumstances out of anyone’s control.” Said Ultron

“C’mon Peps, give him a chance. Remember what I told you.” Said Tony

“If you have any concerns about me, Miss Potts, I reassure you I am in constant contact with JARVIS and he has the power to terminate me at any moment.”

Pepper looked at Tony and asked:

“Are you sure?”

Tony smiled and said:

“I am.

She took a deep breath and said:

“OK, if we got clean starts then I guess Ultron deserves one too.”

“Thanks Pepper.”

“I won’t waste the opportunity.” Said Ultron

When they returned to Malibu mansion, Pepper inquired:

“How are we going to choose people?”

Reaper smirked

“We already have the list, some of it, we just have to interview them”

Pepper frowned

“Remember of the new prosthetics.”

“The veterans?”

“Yes, many veterans where discharged because they lost a limb or something like that. Many of them have difficulty in finding jobs, even with the prosthetics. Don’t you think they would accept a job at SI?” asked Slayer

“We can’t accept all of them. Some of them must have some trauma maybe even PTSD.”

“Of course, we only accept them if they complete the tests, successfully.” Agreed Reaper

“Oh! I understand now why you opened that program for young genius children. You evaluate the kids then you choose which future scientists you want to join on the base.”

The Master of Darkness smirked

“I knew you would catch up.”

The next six months were hard. Reaper was divided between the program for genius children, doing the interviews to the veterans and scientists and then choosing, running SI (he was still CEO), being Iron Man, making strong international connections, keeping an eye on SHIELD/HYDRA and stopping Coulson’s attempts to infiltrate Pepper’s life (it was for the agent’s safety, really; Slayer was pretty sure if Peps saw Coulson, she would rip his head off).

The best part was introducing the new SI workers their work place. Their faces when they were aboard the Primus were the best in his opinion.  After that, Primus and Secundus started making trips; first, they explored the solar system, then they got confidant and Primus was making longer trips and coming with reports of alien life while Secundus became the bridge between Ultron’s base and Earth. The existence of alien life was a shock to SI. They came around and started to realize that there was an intergalactic community. At first, it was only peaceful exploration, gathering knowledge of the different races and the politics then, slowly, they began partake through the various trading markets, either buying, selling or acting as a transport for the goods. There was talking about building more spaceships to act as a freight carriers. Reaper approved, it was a good way for Earth (more like SI) to enter the intergalactic community.

Then the Destroyer of Worlds opened a new division in SI: Security. This new division was going to be armed with the best weapons (that were developed in Ultron’s base and much more advanced than anything on Earth)  and put through rigorous training for the upcoming invasion. The justification for the creation of this division was that with the existence of extra-terrestrial life, Earth needed a several lines of defense in case of an attack. The Master of Darkness, also, made sure that every SI employee, wasn’t a spy or trading information and had a certain degree of loyalty for the company. He made sure to kill the spies that were spying on his employees.

Everything was running smoothly.

“Sir” said JARVIS

“Yes, J?” asked Slayer while he was in his workshop working on a new suit.

“Loki has arrived”


	5. The in between

Director Nick Fury, for the first time in his life, felt lost and terrified.

It all started when Stark returned from Afghanistan. The first clue was the looks, gone was the short brunet with brown hair and eyes, replaced with this tall man with pale skin and dark hair and eyes. The second clue was Stark’s behaviour; he didn’t react like their psychologists predicted. No one got them, which was their downfall.

When Stark returned with that suit, SHIELD began to think about ways to get that piece of technology. So they pushed for the congressional hearing, hoping to pressure Stark, make him more breakable, they even had his best friend in the other side. It didn’t work; Stark let his lawyers do the talking furthermore after the hearing Stark approached Rhodes and told him their friendship was over.

That was a link to control Stark gone. Rhodes was a normal military man with a good amount of ambition and a sense of patriotic duty, but his most valuable thing that made him a source of interest for SHIELD was his friendship to Tony Stark. Rhodes was easy to manipulate, engaging through his superiors and insisting it was for the good of the country; and like that they had a way to influence Stark. Now that was gone and so Rhodes lost his use.

While Iron Man was destroying terrorist groups and playing the hero, SHIELD was mourning the loss of Stane, a valuable source of the best weapons that technology had to offer. Of course they knew Stane was dealing under the table, but why would they put it down when they could reap some advantages. The situation only got worse when all the weapons they bought from Stane went missing which led Fury ordering Coulson to get to the end of the situation along with getting close to Stark.

Then came those youth and scientific programs, another clue they missed, they mistook it as a technique to deal with his PTSD and be his obnoxious self.

What made red flags rise was the international politics and intelligence. SHIELD on an international level was one of the intelligence agencies that many people and groups were fearful to go against, that they had an alliance with the American Government was a plus, in addition to their vast web of excellent spies that resulted in a lot of crucial information that they had no qualms in using to blackmail people, groups even countries to play the roles they wanted. Now, they were losing assets, secret operations were being destroyed and some political allies were getting away from them. It took some time (more than they wanted to admit) to learn the reason and that was Stark. Apparently the man used his kidnapping as a ploy to enter the international playfield; he talked with presidents, prime ministers and people of influence and convinced them to flock to his side.

_How could Stark do this under their noses without their knowledge?_

It was a shock and Fury wasted no time in sending Romanoff to gather information on the man, any advantage he could get over Stark he would take it.

In the end they had nothing. Coulson failed. Romanoff failed.

So Fury decided to do some field work and meet with Stark.  It proved impossible to have some time alone with the man but Fury was patient and confident that he could find an opening.

He was right but wrong.

The meeting happened, not because of Fury’s stealth, but due to Stark’s choice. He knew who Fury was and knew about SHIELD. He never had the upper hand. He had nothing.

They had nothing on Stark and he had something on them.

Fury wondered if he should use the ‘I’m your godfather’ card to get some influence over Stark. He could explain not telling due to being too dangerous and wanting to protect him from afar, however his gut told him it wouldn’t work (and it would blow up on his face) maybe before Afghanistan but not now.

_What happened in Afghanistan to create such radical change?_

 

* * *

 

 

Agent Coulson was reading (for the fifth time) the report from the forensics about the rooms that held some of their weapons that went missing. According to the report, they had nothing; no evidence, no clue, no trail. Fury was going to be angry, heads would roll.

Coulson took pride in being an excellent agent, never failing any missions or ops. Until now. Fury gave him two missions: get close to Stark and find the weapons.

Failed, both of them. 

He could understand not being able to find the weapons, but Stark? Their psychologists always said to appeal to his father issues and his secret need to be accepted/included into a family unit. Coulson even tried to go through Potts. When that didn’t work he tried to confront Stark at his office, to evade security and put a mild virus in Stark’s AI that would shut it down temporarily, however before he downloaded the virus, someone had incapacitated him. He had woken up, in a middle of a dark room, tied to a chair wearing only his underwear.

Now, he saw it as a blessing in disguise, seeing what happened to Romanoff.

But it still made him angry.

 

* * *

 

 

James Rhodes was drunk, ever since the congressional hearing. The nightmares wouldn’t stop.

When Tony came back, he was relieved. His friend was alive and well, however something was wrong. Tony always had this fire, this energy in him that made James smile and laugh. Now, that was gone, replaced by winter frost and sharper ice. At first, James thought that it was Tony just dealing with the trauma, but he was wrong. He realised that after the congressional hearing.

During the congressional hearing, Rhodes tried to make eye-contact with Tony; he knew it was a low bow not warning his friend about this; however he couldn’t go against such direct order from his superiors. He knew that Tony would be angry, but he knew that his friend would forgive him, in time.  Tony didn’t look at him, not when they were side by side and not when he was testifying.  In the end, James decided to corner his friend after the hearing was over and talk to him.

It was a mistake. A horrible and terrifying mistake.

For a few moments, Tony wouldn’t look at him, so he forced him, by cutting off his path. Suddenly, he was the sole focus of those dark eyes.

James couldn’t describe what happened; there were no words for it. It was like everything around them cease to exist. Meaningless shadows started to consume the world. Stretching, inch by inch; pouring from the walls and ceiling; spreading along the floor. There was only him, Tony and darkness. Panicking, James made eye-contact with his friend.

That was his second mistake.

The temperature dropped, freezing James on the spot. He couldn’t look away. _Those eyes._ Dark, alien and endless. Rhodes felt as if they could see every inch of his soul, his very being. He felt like they were peeling his skin away to see his insides. Inch by inch. James wanted to scream in pain, to run away but he couldn’t move. _He couldn’t do anything!_  

He could see Tony (is it really Tony?) saying something but he couldn’t pay attention to it. He was surrounded by darkness and cold. _He couldn’t breathe!_ They were devouring him and he couldn’t do a thing. He couldn’t fight or cry or beg for mercy.

Sometime after, _It_ broke eye-contact and turned his head, looking away and left. Leaving Rhodes behind, rooting on the spot.  Suddenly, James’s knees gave away, he could breathe, he could see. The darkness and cold left, only to return and haunt his dreams, transforming them into nightmares.

There was one good thing about this whole situation. He found that Tony hadn’t returned. That _Thing_ wasn’t Tony (was _It_ even human?). His friend was missing and nobody was searching for him. Maybe this was the terrorist’s plan all along, to replace Tony Stark and gaining control of his company and fortune. 

His theory was proven correct when SI announced the closure of the weapons manufactory. He was sure that whoever they were, they were producing the weapons in secret and that those new programs were distractions. Tony would never do that, he knew how important those weapons are for the army.

He was going to find his friend.


	6. Reunions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The beginning of the Avengers's film

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: there are quotes from the Avengers's film

After JARVIS said those words, Reaper made himself invisible and teleported to the base where Loki was stealing the Space Stone (aka the Tesseract). He saw Loki mind control Barton and Selvig then escape with his thralls. Slayer was very happy seeing Barton being mind controlled, in the first time, when he was mind raped by the witch, some time after, he tried to tell about it to the team but they dismissed it; Barton, already had paternal feelings towards that bitch, defended her strongly, claiming that Stark was pathetic for putting the blame for his mistakes on a defenceless child. Of course the defenceless child in question proclaimed her innocence; however he saw the tiny smirk on her face when everybody believed her.

Reaper teleported back to his workshop and told JARVIS to call Happy.

“Hey Tony! Good thing you called me. I was about to call you. I can’t make it today. Sorry about that.”

“That’s fine because I’m calling you to say the exact same thing.”

“Oh.”

“Yup. How about we make it in two weeks, you, Peps and me?”

“Sure. You know I heard good things about this Italian place, good and cheap.”

“Ok. Got go, something came up.”

Reaper smiled.

His relationship with Happy had changed for the best.  When he returned from the desert, one of the first things he did was deepening their friendship; you could say they were best friends. When Slayer started the changes and the secret space program, he promoted Happy to Head of Security and taught the man about his new responsibilities and making sure his friend did his job right. Happy had even surprised him! One day, Happy stopped by his workshop, eyes glinting with mischief and smirking, his friend simply showed him his StarkPhone. It was a video. Of Coulson trying to sneak past security and getting caught and being tied to a chair in his underwear. Reaper had laughed so hard that he was sure if he had been human; he would have a broken rib or passed out due to lack of breathing. Slayer, as a reward, gave the security team and Happy a big bonus.

The Master of Darkness teleported next to Pepper.

“It’s starting.” He announced

“Ok, I am going to start preparing my part of our plan.” Pepper sighed “Tony... I... Please be careful. I can’t lose you... Not again, please”

Slayer hugged Pepper.

“Don’t worry. They can’t hurt me.”

“But Tony, Loki has two Infinity Stones...” she was silenced by the Destroyer of Worlds kissing her.

Pepper couldn’t stop worrying about Loki ever since Reaper explained to her the nature of the Infinity Stones. Not that Slayer could blame her, if he was human, he would be panicking too; but Reaper had seen and used more powerful artefacts in Hell.

“Sir, Agent Coulson is on the telephone. He is on the lobby of the tower trying to enter but the security guards are stopping him.” Warned JARVIS

Slayer smirked.

“Really? JARVIS give the security guards a bonus.” Said Pepper

“JARVIS get that man out of my tower before I kill him.”

“I could do better, JARVIS get the video of the all thing then send it to the legal department with orders to put a restraining order against Agent so he can’t put a foot in any Stark propriety or get close to Tony.” Ordered Pepper

Reaper laughed.

“Oh Peps! It’s so cruel. Another mission failed, is it the third or fourth?”

Pepper smiled and kissed him.

“I don’t know and I don’t care. What do they say? The more the merrier.”

The Master of Darkness chuckled.

“I’m going to Germany waiting for Loki, when he starts his act I cut him off right away.”

Pepper frowned.

“Wait, are you going to show yourself before Rogers? Are you going to save the old man? The one that didn’t kneel?”

Slayer nodded.

 

* * *

 

 

 

Reaper was bored. He was waiting for Loki to finish his little speech. Really, it was pathetic. Loki was, still in his opinion, a drama queen, a diva. The bullied becomes the bully. How expected. He didn’t know HOW no one saw that coming. However, Slayer knew that the invasion wasn’t his fault, not totally; Thanos was behind it.

Loki was complicated but easy to read at the same time. Easy, because he had a single goal: to become king by whatever means necessary; complicated due to his mental health. The truth is, Loki is insane; he is a ball of anger, hatred, angst, arrogance and madness. The revelation of his origins was the spark that ignited the fuel; the void only made it worse and let’s not even mention Thanos.

“Look to your elder people, let him be an example.” Said Loki

Reaper slowed down time and made an illusion of his suit, deflecting the blast right at Loki.  Slayer then took the place of the illusion.

“Loki, stand down.” The Master of Darkness ordered.

Loki got up and smiled, a bit insanely for Reaper’s tastes.

“The weak weapons smith playing the warrior to hide his shame.”

Ugh, that was different, however seeing Loki ready to attack like he did with Rogers, Slayer prepared. When the sceptre was pointed at him, Reaper blasted Loki a few feet backwards making the sceptre fly. The Destroyer of Worlds wanted to replace the stick with a fake but he couldn’t, not yet.  Slayer sensed Romanov and Rogers coming but he paid them no attention.

Seeing Loki about to summon the stick, Reaper lightly punched him in the ribs making the frost giant fly and lading hard and face down in the middle of the street. Slayer winced, he needed to have a better control on his strength, he couldn’t have anyone getting suspicious.

“Loki you are surrounded, drop your weapons and surrender.” Ordered Rogers while coming to stand next to Iron Man.

Reaper expected the feeling of wrath and hate but he severely underestimated the intensity of those feelings. Having that self righteous asshole next to him only made things worse.

_Don’t kill him, don’t kill him, don’t kill him, don’t k..._

“Stark, are you coming with us?” asked the self righteous asshole

“You can go I’m going to take Loki to the German authorities” replied Slayer.

“You can’t do that. He belongs to SHIELD.”

“Excuse me? He committed a crime on German soil; he must be brought to answer for his crimes.”

“SHIELD has jurisdiction.” Said Rogers more forcefully.

Slayer turned to the bastard and said:

“No it hasn’t, SHIELD is an organization that works for the government, it is not an authority nor has jurisdiction. In fact, since Loki’s first crime was here, the German authorities have jurisdiction.”

Reaper knew that Loki’s first crime was the destruction of the American base. However that base was top secret, as such it didn’t exist, even for the American Government.  So really, no evidence, no crime.

Ordering JARVIS to warn the German authorities and to call his German contacts, the Master of Darkness went to stand by Loki, grabbing the frost giant’s armour he took off.

Not even five minutes in Roger’s presence and he wants to kill them all. This was going to be fun.


	7. Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Strike for SHIELD and WSC.
> 
> Remember the rules of the game: three strikes and you're out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS
> 
> 1- The names of the people in the story were picked at random on sites about naming babies, and their surnames are general last names picked from wikipedia.
> 
> 2- The science. It was all baisc reaserch from wikipedia
> 
> 3- BPOL, BKA and BfV are real agencies that I searched on wikipedia. But the agents here in this story are all fiction.

Reaper was impressed.

Half hour, after that whole mess, Loki was ‘imprisoned’ in a max security interrogation cell; watched by surveillance cameras and fifty guards. Much better than the cage in the Hellcarrier. The Hellcarrier was, essentially, a plane. Who maintains a prisoner that has a high risk of escape in a plane? Even knowing that he has help on the outside. In addition, who makes their main base of operations in a plane? The Destroyer of Worlds never understood that.

Slayer was in a conference room with live video feed to the cell. He was waiting for the Bundespolizei, Bundeskriminalamt and Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz officers to arrive. It appears that Loki’s actions were considered as a terrorist attack, as such the Bundespolizei (for short BPOL) aka the Federal Police; the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) aka Federal Criminal Police Office and the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV) aka the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, were called.

The Master of Darkness sighed while twirling the sceptre. He could feel the link between Loki and the Other, the Mind Stone being the thing that sustains it.  Calling it ‘link’ is very generous, more like a chain, a chain with poisoned spikes that electrocutes you while simultaneously stabbing to your mind. All the fun stuff. That’s not even taking to account the influence of the Infinity Stone, of the six, the Mind Stone is the most chaotic, even malevolent.

The door opened and four people entered and sat down on the chairs.

“Good night Dr. Stark. My name Heidi Hermann from BPOL, these are my colleagues, agent Karl Weber from BKA, and agent Sigmund Wolf from BfV, followed by General Fredda Richter.”  Said a young woman with blond hair and brown eyes.

Reaper nodded.

“Dr. Stark, do you know the identity of the individual?” asked the general.

“Yes, when we had the confrontation, he introduced himself as Loki of Asgard.” He lied

Agent Weber raised an eyebrow and asked:

“Like in the Norse myths?”

“I only know as much as you.”

“What about the weapon that he used? Also did he teleport?” questioned general Richter.

“From the footage that we reviewed, he had a cane that turned in to the sceptre, some qualities remained like the glowing blue stone and colour.” Reported agent Wolf.

“You mean this sceptre?” asked Reaper cheekily while showing it,

“Yes”

“We should analyse it, see what kind of weapon is. Dr. Stark would you assist us?“ Asked the general.

“Of course. On another matter, who is going to interrogate the prisoner?”

“We already lined up several skilled interrogators. They will get their chance in ten minutes.”  Answered the general

When Reaper saw the lab, he was impressed, not for the quality of the machines nor the workspace (he could create a better one), however for a lab that was put together in less than an hour it was good.

For the next hours, Slayer spent his time analysing the sceptre with the other scientists. In an hour, they discovered that the sceptre broadcasted some kind of wave that after further investigation, affected the chemical components of the brain.

The Mind Stone forced the brain to reduce the functions of the cerebral cortex while amplifying the use of the limbic system which is responsible for emotional behaviour. The Mind Stone triggered the brain into producing large amounts of serotonin, epinephrine (aka adrenaline) and norepinephrine; basically hormones responsible for anger, fight or flight response, alertness, anxiety and psychosis.

After these findings the sceptre was moved to a shielded container.

The Master of Darkness was surprised. In his past life, he never found that bit about the Mind Stone.  But then, he never had a chance to really test it, did he? During the invasion, everybody wanted the Space Stone and after the invasion, HYDRA took the sceptre. When he finally had the chance to study it, Thor was breathing down on his neck with threats of taking what belonged in Asgard and not in the hands of dumb mortals; Romanov and Rogers wanted some kind of super weapon for the Avengers; never mind his PTSD, panic attacks and nightmares.

He had been so scared of what he saw in the portal that he let himself become part of an abusive relationship.

Not this time.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Reaper cackled.

Loki was confused and a bit frightened.  He hid it well but he could see it.

Loki expected SHIELD to arrest him, just like in the previous timeline.

The problem was that all of his information about Earth came from Barton.

A petty deluded arrogant man.

Barton didn’t have any idea how the real world worked. He was an assassin, if he couldn’t kill his troubles with an arrow, he ran away from them. He never faced the consequences of his actions, or even realised those said consequences existed.

It only got worse when he joined SHIELD.

But back to the matter at hand, Barton believed that SHIELD was some kind of supreme authority, giving Loki the idea that SHIELD was the only thing he had to worry about. 

Now, Loki was realising truth.

“How dare you do this to me! I’m a god!” yelled the frost giant as a doctor stabbed a needle into his arm drawing blood for analysis.

When the interrogators realised that their prisoner had super strength, they had him laid down on a table chained with vibranium chains.

Needless to say it was funny.

Reaper watched as the German Government realised that Loki was an alien and an alien invasion was imminent. Slayer had already offered to help and advised several key members of the government to spread the news to other governments and the UN.  

Slowly, the news spread and after presenting evidence, every government in the world was preparing for the invasion. Several governments had already offered their interrogators if needed. A council with a representative of every country was being formed as a way to keep communications.

The regular people didn’t understand what was happening however they knew it was big and world changing, they saw armed armies on the streets and mass evacuations to protective shelters being made; many people thought world war three was about to begin.

This time, SHIELD, HYDRA and WSC wouldn’t escape this.  When it became know about Project Pegasus being the reason for the upcoming alien invasion, heads would roll. Even the American Government wouldn’t be spared.

“Dr. Stark?”

“Yes, General Richter? Any news?”

“Yes, the prisoner claimed that an american organization was aware of his coming.” Informed the general.

“The response of the American Government?”

The general scowled.

“They claimed innocence on the matter.”

“You doubt it?” questioned Slayer.

“If the prisoner is to be believed he has several members of said organization under mind control; sooner or later the truth will come out!”

“Did the prisoner told the name of the organisation?” asked Reaper

“He said it was SHIELD”

Slayer fake gasped making the general narrowing her eyes at him.

“You know them?” interrogated the general.

“Unfortunately. They tried to steal my armour trough a congressional hearing, when that didn’t work they sent their spy to infiltrate my company, but she was caught and charged. They tried to break in to my house, when that failed they tried my office. Disgusting people, they never accept no for an answer.”

“Really” said the general with a calculating look “Dr. Stark, please come with me. I’m going to meet with the war council, perhaps your experience with this organization may be useful for the war council”

This time the Master of Darkness didn’t have to fake his pleased expression.

“Of course. It will be my pleasure, General.”


	8. Reaper vs. Fate

Before following the general, Reaper stopped time and teleported to his tower. This meeting was important, he needed to sway all of them to his side, if not, then to not side with SHIELD or the USA. For that he needed to know what was about to happen, there were too many wild carts: Loki, Thor, Rogers, Thanos and Fury, to name a few.

He knew that Thor was late, he made sure of that, he couldn’t have that oaf destroying his plans. Thanos was more difficult, he was a genius, a strategist; he will know sooner or later that something was up.  Loki, Rogers and Fury were the ones he needed to worry about.

He was never more glad than now to have killed Destiny.

You see, there isn’t just one universe, but an infinite amount of universes; it’s called the multiverse. For each universe, there is an Eternity (life), a Mistress Death, six Infinity Stones and the Fates/Norms (destiny). Common belief says if you destroy one of those, the universe self-destructs; that’s a lie, propagated by them. He had seen what happened in a universe where Mistress Death was destroyed; the universe didn’t end, it was still there only with precarious life conditions. When a universe ended, not everything ends with it; more commonly Mistress Death, the Fates or even Eternity survived. They simply jumped the ship when he was sinking.

Destiny was the first Fates from the first universe that sprung from the darkness. That universe was long gone and replaced but they still remained. Slayer had killed them and took their powers and memories (you learned best from experience after all). Now those powers were being put to work.

Closing his eyes, the Master of Darkness saw the golden threads of every life in this universe; then he concentrated on Fury. Seeing it, Slayer let his index finger ran along the thread, letting Fury’s thoughts and actions into his mind.  Reaper frowned. Fury was confused and afraid of him, he suspected that he had a mole in SHIELD and was beginning to investigate the organization. The Destroyer of Worlds couldn’t have that, Fury might accidentally stumble upon HYDRA and ruin his plans for the dumb blond. Grabbing the thread with his thumb and index finger, Slayer let his thoughts shape the thread.

_Stark can’t be controlled._

_Trust Alexander Pierce._

_Send Rogers to the war council._

_Send Romanov to break in the facility and interrogate Loki_

_The American Government is the best way for SHIELD to survive._

_Separate Stark from the American Government and he will be weak._

_Manipulate the American Government._

Reaper grinned then let Fury’s thread disappear. Concentrating on Romanov, letting her thread appear in his hands, he grabbed it and started to mould it.

_Stark is a narcissistic egomaniac playboy._

_Don’t disable the security cameras when breaking in the facility._

_Let Loki escape._

_You are the best of the best, they should be honoured to be in your presence._

Letting the thread go, Slayer concentrated on Loki.

_Tell them about Asgard’s hegemony and how they view Midgard._

_Don’t talk to Romanov._

_Give hints about Thanos._

_Tell them about SHIELD and how they caused the incoming invasion._

Reaper frowned. The trickster reminded him about himself; lied, cheated and abandoned when his usefulness ended.  He was going to give the frost giant just one chance. One chance only.

_Tell them your story._

_You are a Jotun._

_You are **not**  a monster._

_You decide where your home is. Make yourself one._

_Asgard is not your home._

_Frigga loves you, but her love for you doesn’t surpass her love and duty for her husband._

That’s it, the good deed of the day. Now ....

“HOW DARE YOU TO MANIPULATE FATE WORTHLESS MORTAL!!!!” screamed three voices.

Reaper sighed.

_Well I knew sooner or later I would have to confront them..._

Slayer let himself be teleported to the Fates.

Suddenly, three blond women were next to him. They were angry. The Master of Darkness waited for them to speak. Few minutes later, he lifted his eyebrow and questioned:

“So you bring me here, to this lonely corner of the universe and then what? Stay quiet?”

They got even angrier after that.

“Kneel before us, mortal!!! We are higher beings! We are the Fates! We decide all!!!” Exploded the one on the left.

Reaper snorted.

“You’re only higher beings in this universe. Want to go to the universe right next to this one and see how much of a higher being you are then? Better yet, want to go to the space between universes?”

The middle one snarled.

“How dare you fool!  Anthony Edward Stark, we know your name, we decided all the happenings of your life and now, for you insolence, we kill you.”

The Master of Darkness sighed. See, he never had to search for problems, they always came to him. If he wanted to his plans to succeed, the Fates had to die. Slowly, Slayer let a bit of his aura free.

“Well, you could try. But a warning to you: I’m not giving up without a fight!!!”

The one on the right side hurled a ball of pure light at him, which Reaper side stepped easily while throwing a dark red spear that forced them to separate. The Destroyer of Worlds immediately teleported behind to the one at his left and stabbed her with his poisoned blade. She screamed and fell to the floor convulsing. The poison would stop any magic and prevented her from moving.

“Sister!” screamed the one behind him.

The Fate closest to him hurled herself at him with twin dagger in her hands. Summoning his spear, he side stepped the attack and knocked the daggers out of her hands with the spear.

“I know that you three are controlling bitches but at this level? For two mortals and a jotun? Ppphh, that’s some OCD” said Slayer

“We don’t care about the mortals! That jotun is our favourite toy, we haven’t broken him properly!” answered the one that tried to attack him.

“What do you mean?”

“Do you really think Odin WorldBreaker, the Warmonger; would felt pity for some jotun babe?”

“What’s Loki’s destiny?” asked Reaper having a bad feeling about it.

“He is the spark of Ragnarok, the destruction of Asgard!”

The Destroyer of Worlds winced. Loki was  _that_  kind of toy. A person whose life is for the sole entertainment of the Fates; what could go wrong in these person’s lives usually happens for their amusement. That would explain all the misery in Loki’s life. These types of people commonly have main roles in horrifying prophecies.

There was a female scream and suddenly a golden sword flashed ripping the mortal’s head from his shoulders. As the body dissolved, a second Fate revealed herself.

“Not so big and though now mortal!” said the now visible Fate.

“Sister, stop bragging! I’m poisoned over here!” said the one on the floor.

“It’s fine, my dear, let us go to our home to treat you and see what changes this mortal did.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

**A few days later in the Fates's home; time is still frozen on Earth**

 

“I can’t believe this! Sisters, see what he did to the jotun!” exclaimed the recovering Fate.

“This is not good. Ragnarok can only start when Loki disguised as Odin takes the throne.”

“We had a marvellous plan in motion: the Dark Elves attack of Asgard and killing their queen” lamented one Fate

“No it wasn’t! It was a gamble due to the Aether. You know that the Infinity Stones are one of the few things that can go against our plans.”

“Is Surtur in position?” asked the recovering Fate.

“Of course! It was easy to brainwashing him into accepting his role as was with Hela.”

The two Fates laughed, not noticing the sickly pale Fate narrowing her eyes.

“Ah, Hela... it’s amusing” said the recovering Fate.

“Yes, she is in her prison in Hel, still.”

“The Goddess of Death was too difficult to control, we had to give her insanity for her to abide by her role in Ragnarok”

“I see...” said the sickly pale Fate. “I think I got all I could from you two.”

The other Fates turned to their sister with confused expressions.

“Sister?”

The sickly recovering Fate grinned with too many pointed teeth, her cheeks hollowed her eyes turned black and a familiar aura surrounded her.

 _This wasn’t their sister..._  Was the similar thought on both Fates’s mind.

“Oh, c’mon, I told you I wouldn’t give it up without a fight” said the  _thing_  wearing their sister’s form.

“Get out of our sister and we promise to be merciful.”

Reaper laughed a cold dark laugh.

“Your sister is gone, you remember eagerly chopping of a head don’t you? Well newsflash, my dear, it wasn’t my head but it was someone’s head.”

“NNNOOOO!!!” Yelled one Fate dropping to her knees crying.

“Well it was fun while it lasted, I give you that. Now you’re an obstacle to my plans, for that I can’t let you live.” Said Slayer while assuming his true form.

The last thing the Fates saw was a living nightmare smiling cruelly at them.


End file.
